Antidote - a Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction story
by Wishtree15
Summary: 2 years after becoming queen Cinder hosts the first-ever lunar ball, however something goes wrong and a deadly virus is spread. Will Cinder be able to save her planet with the help of Scarlet,Cress,Wolf ,Thorne and of course Kai?
1. An unexpected announcement

"Oh come on cinder! We haven't been out in a-a-ges" Iko screeched from the other end of the room promptly after charging through the doors.

"Good morning to you as well Iko" Cinder replied dryly going for the calm-and–sophisticated-which-will-probably-fail approach to the situation.

"Good morning?! Oh no it isn't! The word 'good' suggest to me that something right has happened and I _certainly_ wouldn't use THAT adjective to describe the discovery that one of my closest friends has become a socially-inept Grinch!" Iko rambled on, her voice amplified by the escort-droid's speakers. Cinder was, and not for the first time, regretting the decision of upgrading Iko to her present mechanical form.

And so, apparently, were the rest of the people residing in the building. Scarlet and wolf charged in, followed by a sleep deprived Thorne and cress.

"What's happening here?" asked a very worried looking Scarlet. Wolf had poised himself in attack position, ready to pounce at any threat and cress and scarlet had both whipped out their port screens and were in the process of calling backup. In fact, everyone seemed to have followed the emergency protocol exactly… except; where was Thorne? After a quick scan of the room , Cinder located him snoring away ignorantly on a sofa. Typical.

"Stop guys, there is no attack" Cinder said with a resigned sigh. Subsequently everyone relaxed by some degree but Cinder could still see the tension etched into their faces.

"no attack? Well, I believe you are mistaken because I am having one in my heart!" Iko declared dramatically and accentuated by placing one perfectly manicured hand onto her chest and collapsing onto a nearby chair

"honestly Iko, all this just because I cancelled our trip , I mean-" Cinder was abruptly cut off with a collective intake of breath and looking around she was pinned with glares all around her. Gulping, she continued "Ye-e-a-a-h-h, you see I was just about to discuss this with you but…umm" she finished off lamely

" Selene Channary jannali Blackburn, don't you lie to me" Iko warned and Cinder winced at the use of the full name whilst Iko shook her head at her disapprovingly " I just received a comm from the hover unit confirming that our flight has _already_ been cancelled at the last minute and I … how could you Cinder? without telling us?"

"I'm so sorry guys but , I-I can't just leave Luna unsupervised , it's my duty as Queen!" but Cinder's patriotic outburst had only resulted in turning the glares of anger to gazes of pity, and honestly Cinder couldn't decide which one was worse. Cress walked over to Cinder from where she had been trying to wake Thorne up to no avail and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Look Cinder, we all know how hard you are trying to be a good queen to Luna but sometimes you need to take a break, not only for yourself but for the people of Luna too, they need to see that you can trust them not to kill each other when you turn your back!" Cress finished her impassioned speech out of breath and looked at Cinder with pleading eyes, hoping that Cinder would relent.

"Erm , for your information I DO trust them" Cinder defended herself as she slowly edged towards the port screen on her bed showcasing all the CCTV feeds she had put up a couple months ago. Too late. Wolf got there first and dangled the port screen above his head, as Cinder jumped up and tried to swipe for it, but Wolf was a staggering 6 '4" and, well need more be said?

After accepting her defeat, Cinder turned around to a smug looking Cress and an appalled looking Scarlet. The next twenty minutes were spent listening to a lecture about 'public privacy' and the like During this, Cinder made a mental note to remember that when Scarlet is in her righteous moods, not to interrupt her , cos that is just not doing any favours for your health, well-being and general alive-liness. Once Scarlet had finished, Cress looked at Cinder and said in a very stern voice "Now, I expect you to keep this in mind for the future and as for now, I hope you have reconsidered our trip that we had been planning?" Cress finished off with a hopeful tone and started making puppy dog eyes at Cinder, a stark contrast to the earlier part of their conversation. Cinder would have fallen for it too, if she could have, because there was just one more little surprise news that Cinder had yet to give them.

Taking a deep breath Cinder opened her mouth and said "There's something I need to tell you" once she had gotten their attention, she said "I have invited all earthen leaders to come to Luna for a commemorative ball"

…

"You did what?!"


	2. The meeting

"Watch it! …OW" Cinder shrieked as she glared down at Iko, who was busy fixing her dress with various needles and trying to kill her. To be honest, Cinder couldn't see why she had to wear a dress to the before-meeting. She had brought it up with Scarlet, but the horrified look Cinder received when she suggested cargo pants, suggested her idea wasn't too popular.

Looking around the room, Cinder was met with a not-so-nice look from her Royal advisor.

"Remind me again , my Queen , why we're inviting earthen leaders , also more commonly known as number 1 enemy ,to Luna ?" This particular advisor was always very anxious but Cinder knew she couldn't perform half her duties without him.

" Look Ravor, Luna is running very low on essential resources and we need to start up trade again with Earth, not only that, but in order to secure a better future for our people we must put our past differences with Earth aside, don't you see!" Cinder explained with grand hand gestures which no doubt angered the already struggling Iko.

"That's all very well, but how do we know that their intentions will be so good-willed" Ravor was now looking very faint and probably running through all the possible worst case scenarios of this evening.

"Well, the thing is… we don't" Cinder finished off carefully as Ravor's eyes bulged in his head."Look, don't worry, the palace security have been working at it for a week , and believe me, I don't think even I could get past this, well actually that's debatable cos… nevermind" Cinder thought it best to leave it there because she knew that Ravor probably wasn't all that keen on her notorious rebel days, he was a very non-violence type of guy and actually reminded her of a big, fluffy teddy bear. Thinking about this made her snigger but she quickly covered up."And as for me , Ravor , I can take care of myself"

"Do you honestly believe that, with no weapons? Any assassin could kill you in a heartbeat and-" Ravor asked uncertainly but Cinder cut him off with her own counter remark.

" I never said I wouldn't be armed" At Ravor's confused expression , Cinder smiled and asked Iko to stop work for a moment . Slowly Cinder revealed that her dress masked all sorts of weapons including some of the best knives around, a tracking device and as an added accessory , a hand grenade, but she thought it would be wise not to tell him about that. "Whaddaya think? Pretty cool eh?" Ravor did not think it was cool, but he relaxed slightly and after insisting that she still have her regular guards he excused himself from the room.

"Well that was fun" Cinder said to no one in particular. Iko was still working away , her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"okay…a-and done! Give us a twirl"

"I am a mechanic , Iko. I don't twirl" Cinder stated simply with a raised eyebrow as Iko rolled her eyes and simultaneously cringed at the word 'mechanic'

"Not tonight , Cinder. Tonight you are a Queen , meeting her beloved….Prince Kaito!" Iko ended with a squeal and this time it was Cinder who rolled her eyes.

"we've been through this before Iko , and I told you, me and the emperor decided that for the better good of our people, we should call it quits, we had no time for each other anyway" Cinder had made a decision at the time and she was still confident that it had been the right one, though that didn't mean she hadn't missed him, in fact quite the opposite and It was the thing she was most looking forward to of tonight's ball. Although in all fairness, Cinder shouldn't have been complaining, as it was Winter who had done most of the preparation and Cinder was, as always ever so grateful, to have such a wonderful cousin.

"Well, we shall see Cinder, for I think that come this evening you and the emperor will be back to how you were before, you won't be able to resi-i-s-t!" Iko sing-songed repeatedly , up until Cinder got annoyed and reached inside Iko's control panel and flicked off the audio. Iko immediately started making puppy dog eyes at her and Cinder decided she would let Iko off the hook, just this once.

"Okay Iko, we are about to enter the before –meeting, oh , that sounds horrible, we really should call it something else, anyway ,you are not, I repeat not to say anything even in the slightest bit unhelpful, do you understand?" Cinder stared solidly at Iko until she nodded and then Cinder reached back into her control panel and switched audio back on.

Just as she flicked the switch, the trumpets sounded , marking the beginning of the event and as Cinder was walking up to the door , she thought about the emperor, but instantly banished those thoughts away and told herself she mustn't think of him too much , else god-knows what dreadful and likely embarrassing thing would happen.

The large wooden doors opened and Cinder plastered a wide smile on her face as she was announced and looked around at the people in the room with confidence , until her eyes met with a familiar face and everything she had just warned herself of flew out the window.


	3. The virus

….

"Thank you and I am glad you made it too. Please, enjoy the ball" Cinder pasted a 250-watt smile at the guest whose name she had forgotten. Cinder was honestly trying her best and contrary to what Scarlet's ever-present glare might suggest, she thought she was doing a pretty good job. Although now the smiles were getting weaker and so was Cinder's will to stay away from the buffet table.

Cinder walked over inconspicuously and slowly began fingering the treats when there was a faint bang from under the table. Reaching down, Cinder lifted up the table cloth and after seeing who it was, she slipped silently inside. " Honestly Iko!" Iko or someone who could be described as looking very much like Iko but with a cake smeared face glanced up at Cinder sheepishly and shrugged.

"I couldn't help it Cinder they just looked too good!" Iko gave up a lame excuse but Cinder was just not in the mood for fighting now. And the cake did look good so it was all Cinder could do to stay away and try to save what was left of the dress. Today was possibly one of the greatest landmarks for peace with Earth, hosted by Luna… and here she was, hiding under a table. Thinking of the ball again she winced when she caught a glimpse of Scarlet's face through the cloth. Stars, she was going to be so mad!

"Cinder…I am sorry about what happened today" Cinder looked back at Iko and immediately knew what she was talking about; how could she forget? But she was not about to tell Iko that.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Iko" Cinder's eyes were starting to water and she glanced away determined not to let Iko see her cry.

" I am talking about Kai … and his new…girlfriend" Iko said this sympathetically but it was just another knife in Cinder's heart, a wound she knew would take a long time to heal. Cinder tried hard to forget about him, to move on but no matter how hard she tried or for how long she succeeded, when she glanced back at him, at his beautiful smile all was forgotten and he was the only thing she could think about.

"I don't care about his new girlfriend!" Cinder screeched with so much spite that Iko just raised her eyebrows and no more needed to be said. " anyway, we should probably come out before people notice I'm gone and decide it's a good idea to declare war" just as Cinder was about to leave from under the table, the cloth from the side lifted up and another figure crawled under, panting. The figure lifted his head and Cinder was left speechless like a deer caught in the headlights.

Prince Kaito opened his mouth in a surprised gesture, but then simply bowed his head and said

"Greetings Cind-…your majesty" Cinder relished in every pronounced syllable, a voice she would never forget but could never quite remember. Cinder returned his greetings in a similar fashion.

"Forgive me your majesty, but why are you under a table?" Kai said and had a twinkle in his eye as if he was amused at something.

"well, I could ask you the same thing" Cinder shot back, elongating her rare and pleasurable conversation with the Earthen king, be it under a table.

Before Kai could reply, a deep voice which Cinder suspected belonged to Ravor could be heard at the table talking to Scarlet, both wondering where I was and sounding quite panicked. Cinder had seen Ravor worried before but had never heard him quite so panicked and so, even though it looked quite strange and undoubtedly scared the wits off Ravor, she lifted up the cloth and said "looking for me?"

Both Ravor and Scarlet jumped back 5 feet although Ravor quickly recovered and Scarlet stood panting where she had jumped with her hand on her heart and muttering something which was either a prayer or a curse to me, most likely the latter.

Ravor reached down and helped me up, checking me over for any sign of injury when King Kaito emerged after me.

"You're sure you're alright?" Ravor looked very concerned even though I replied that I was fine a couple hundred times.

Eventually, Ravor quit fussing and stepped back to glare at Kai who I noticed was also glaring at Ravor, though I could not think why they were being so hostile with each other. However, after a while, Ravor seemed to remember something more important and looked over at me with panicked eyes.

"You're majesty, please follow me and it is best that His majesty comes as well" Kai agreed after bringing one of his personal guards. Ravor lead us down to a small room where Scarlet, Cress , Thorne and wolf were waiting. There was a mixed greeting of kai ranging from distrust to distant tolerance. Ravor pointed to a panel of the wall and it immediately vanished to be replaced with a glass, transparent wall. I raised my eyebrows, I did NOT know we had that feature at the palace…cool. Suddenly, a man was brought in by the palace security guards, looking closely he was in uniform so I assume he was a palace guard. He was also dead. His face was blue and he was not breathing, blood covered his uniform and I had to look away. Looking at Ravor, he had the same pained expression on his face as I knew I did.

"What happened to him?" I choked out looking at Ravor. He looked at me as if he didn't want to say but knew he had to.

"He has a rare strain of virus in him" Ravor replied but there was more " He was left with a note …saying we have until the next red moon… when everyone will be killed"

"What? But…but what are they asking for as ransom? Ravor?" Cinder frantically asked questions as her mind began to swirl dangerously.

"Your majesty, they are asking for complete control of Luna and Earth" Cinder stared at Ravor in disbelief. No, no we can't give them what they want thought Cinder, but then what on Earth should we do?

"There must be an antidote" declared Kai. Cinder glanced at Ravor in hope and he began to nod slowly.

"There's an antidote!" Cinder cried " Well that's great- where is it?" Ravor was shaking his head and it was obvious he knew something we did not.

" It really is just thought to be legend… you see, this isn't the first time this virus broke out, it did once before-millions of years ago and some people came across a legend that told of where the cure was, but it was never found, people don't tend to believe in legends your majesty" Ravor replied to me looking sorry and wearing a grim expression.

"But it is our only hope" Cinder said reproachfully and looked up to see Kai staring at her and nodding his agreement.

"We have to find the antidote" Kai and Cinder whispered simultaneously.

….


End file.
